Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Dave Washburn <dwashbur AT nyx.net>]

On Saturday 26 November 2005 14:07, Herman Meester wrote:
> Dear Rolf,
>
> Reading your reply I came to the conclusion that our ways of looking
> at Hebrew syntax are miles apart. It will be very difficult to
> reconcile our two views, for a number of reasons.
> First, I see you mention examples found in the book Job.
> It is my strong conviction that BHebrew prose and BHebrew poetry
> differ completely in syntax. Canaanite poetry has actually its own
> separate, "parallel" language, and poets are messy with yiqtol,
> wayyiqtol, qatal etc. on purpose, to be able to reach audiences
> speaking various dialects.
> The same phenomenon is to be observed in Marocco in the Rif mountains.
> There too, poets make syntax messy on purpose, and their language is
> not one local dialect but uses various elements from all the dialects
> they've heard, to give all hearers something to make them feel "at
> home" in the (recited) poem.

 Actually, this is true in every language I have ever studied (somewhere 
between 15 and 20); poetry does its own thing and only pays attention to 
grammatical and other linguistic conventions when it suits the poet's 
purposes.

-- 
Dave Washburn
http://www.nyx.net/~dwashbur
"Maybe I'll trade it for a new hat."